With today’s climate, many homeowners wonder if they can possibly sell their homes without compromising their family’s safety. And even though much has changed because of the pandemic, real estate is still moving forward for those who need to buy and sell.
In short, yes, you can safely sell your home; you’ll simply need to implement a few safety measures. But how far you’ll need to go does depend on the house itself. For example, if your home is vacant, not a whole lot needs to be done, since you and your family’s safety isn’t in question there.
However, if you occupy the home you’re trying to sell, here are some best practices:
- Take great pictures and videos of your property. You don’t want a bunch of looky-loos wandering through your home, so be sure that your online presence is as strong as possible. Most people will be cautious about home tours, but they’ll still want to physically walk through the home prior to putting in their contracts.
- Limit the number of people walking through your home. Of course, we want the buyer’s real estate agent to accompany the buyer while they walk through the home, but we do want to limit parties to no more than two people, plus the buyer’s agent.
- Leave the property during walk-throughs. This will help protect you and your family from exposure via buyers and their agents, but we also want to have all the doors, drawers, and cabinets open, as well as all the lights on, so that we can limit how many surfaces are being touched during walk-throughs.
- Sanitize all handles and surfaces. Even though we like to limit party sizes and contact with surfaces, it’s still a wise decision to sanitize handles and surfaces before and after each walk-through.
- Set up a station for protective gear. If you’d feel more comfortable if buyers wore masks and gloves, we can set up a station outside your home to provide those materials to them before they come inside.
If you have any questions about this or other real estate topics, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We hope to hear from you soon!
